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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

September 2003


Century-Old Ferry Building Comes of Age

Renovated San Francisco Landmark Poised to Take On Expanded Role
Ferry Building
The renovated Ferry Building is the centerpiece of a suite of waterfront improvement projects. (Photo: Tom Paiva)

The $100 million face-lift and seismic retrofit of San Francisco’s 105-year-old Ferry Building has had the effect that a little cosmetic surgery often produces: Those around it are finally taking notice. Inside the newly renovated building, the voices and footsteps of commuters, visitors and food purveyors echo through the hollow center and create a vibrant atmosphere. On days when the resident farmers’ market operates, the intoxicating scent of fresh fruits, vegetables, pastries and flowers greets visitors. It is hard to believe that this now bustling site was neglected for so many years before motions to restore it to its original grandeur began in the 1990s.

Crab mosaicDuring the peak ferry years in the 1920s and early 1930s, as many as 50,000 commuters and other travelers passed through the Ferry Building each day. With the opening of the Bay and Golden Gate bridges in 1936 and 1937, respectively, ferry travel overwhelmingly gave way to automobile traffic. Construction of the Embarcadero Freeway in the 1950s further diminished the landmark’s role by obstructing the city-side view of the building. The interior eventually was divided up and converted into offices.

The building’s fortunes began to turn around in the early 1990s when demolition of the Embarcadero Freeway — which was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake — focused city and regional planners’ attention on the potential of San Francisco’s waterfront.

Ferry Building
Natural light floods the Ferry Building’s nave, a grand central hall. (Photo: Tom Paiva)
New Life for Antique Structure
While leaving the facade largely intact, crews removed office walls and asbestos tiles, replaced missing and damaged bricks, and restored the second level’s mosaic floor and its image of the seal of the state of California tile by tile. Long stretches of the second floor were removed to once again allow natural light to shine down onto the ground floor through the skylight that runs the entire length of the 660-foot nave. The iconic 240-foot clock tower that has served as a beacon by both land and sea for more than 100 years also has been restored and restarted.

Currently, about 11,000 ferry riders pass through the refurbished building each weekday — a number that swells with scores of downtown workers and visitors who come for other reasons.

“The Ferry Building has become a destination in itself,” said Senior Waterfront Planner Dan Hodapp with the Port of San Francisco.

Food Meets Ferries
Stalls housing local specialty food merchants now line the corridor of the ground floor, creating a marketplace reminiscent of those in Europe. The relocation of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market from its temporary venue a few blocks away adds to the energized aura.

Flounder mosaicAt the same time as refurbishing the building proper, the Port of San Francisco has been upgrading adjacent ferry facilities. Two state-of-the-art floating docks with covered walkways and mechanical lifts for disabled passengers became operational in the spring of 2002. A new 30-foot-wide espla-nade invites pedestrians to stroll beside the ferry landings and enjoy expansive views of the Bay. The Port also installed a new breakwater to protect ferries from winter storm surges, and is in the process of constructing a 600-foot-long public access pier that will jut into the Bay along the top of the breakwater.

Under a pair of bills in Sacramento (both spearheaded by state Senator Don Perata), things could get even busier at the ferry complex. Senate Bill 915 essentially blesses the fledgling Bay Area Water Transit Authority’s plans for beefing up ferry service on the Bay, while Senate Bill 916 would put before Bay Area voters a $1 increase in tolls on the region’s state-owned bridges to fund new and expanded ferry lines and a host of other transit services.

For Oakland resident Kathie Oleson, the restoration arouses nostalgia. “I used to take the ferry as a little girl, and my father left for World War II from this building,” she said on a recent visit to the complex. “I’m glad it’s being saved and put to such a wonderful use. It’s a place dear to our hearts and it’s part of our history.”
— Deanna Yick

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